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The weekly newspaper for air cargo professionals Volume: 20
Issue: 22
5 June 2017
Cargo on the rise but WorldACD remains cautious
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orldwide air cargo volumes grew a respectable 7.7 per cent in April according to WorldACD who says it is hard to tell what to make of the March-
April figures. The market analyst says March results were “somewhat inflated”, particularly in Europe due to the late Easter, with year-on-year outbound growth of 19 per cent followed by five per cent in April, though the two months together averaged 12.1 per cent outbound and 9.3 per cent inbound. April volume growth ranged from 14 per cent in the origin Asia Pacific to minus three per cent in Africa. WorldACD explains: “One month ago the whole air cargo business was over the moon, so to speak, as March 2017 had shown the best year-on-year (YOY) performance since the 2008-2009 crisis.
TRANSFORMATION OF DELTA CARGO TAKING SHAPE
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MELBOURNE TO HK ADDED BY VIRGIN TO ITS NETWORK
“The month of April now being accounted for, industry players may well wonder whether they are back on earth or still in seventh heaven, such was the difficulty in understanding the March-April figures.” WorldACD says followers of liturgical and lunar calendars may be able to tell whether this is due to the Lunar New Year and Easter effect, saying: “It seems safest to look at the total for the first four months of the year: volume was up a solid nine per cent compared with 2016.” “To put this in perspective, the first four months of 2016 were flat compared
with the same period in 2015.” The worldwide air cargo drop from March to April was large this year, falling eight per cent compared to four on average in the previous three years, and though it had gradually become smaller over the period, it became larger this year in all regions, except Latin America. Perishable markets were also weaker WorldACD says, with Kenya only growing 0.3 per cent, Ecuador by 1.6 per cent and Egypt by 7.4 per cent, though others were stronger including Colombia, up 13.3 per cent, Norway by 15.6 per cent and Brazil by 16 per cent.
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PHARMA NETWORK EXPANSION FOR QATAR AIRWAYS PHARMA FOCUS CONTINUES FOR CARGOLUX
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ACI: global trade helps revive volumes
UPS and SF to set-up JV Thominet to be new ECS CEO
UPS and SF Holding – the parent company of SF Express – are to establish a joint venture (JV) and collaborate to develop and provide international delivery services from China to the US, with expansion plans for other lanes. The two express operators say they will leverage their complementary networks, service portfolios, technologies and logistics expertise. The JV is subject to regulatory approval. UPS Asia Pacific president, Ross McCullough says: “This joint venture will support products that provide competitive benefits to our Chinese customers who trade or seek to trade internationally. Our combined efforts will result in new logistics products and services to simplify and accelerate B2B and B2C customers’ cross-border trade.” UPS and SF say they will com-
bine the strengths of SF’s extensive Chinese network, and fast growing package delivery market, with UPS’s global integrated network with coverage of 220 countries. The JV will initially focus on supporting highly competitive joint service offerings on the China to US trade lane, with planned expansion to other markets. SF Group vice president, Alan Wong adds: “China is leading the world in terms of e-commerce market size, growth, penetration and mobile business usage. Coupled with a rapidly growing and internet-savvy consumer base, it’s imperative SF and UPS collaborate to revolutionise the logistics.” sector.”
ECS Group has nominated Adrien Thominet (pictured) – the current chief operating officer – to be its new chief executive officer (CEO). The role is now held by Bertrand Schmoll - who will continue to be chairman of the Group. The general sales and service agent (GSSA) says changes in the top leadership are to “fully align with the transformative needs of their partners and clients and support them to navigate the shift to compete in the digital economy”. ECS says it aims to be the leader in the rapidly evolving global digital economy and going forward it expects to roll out changes across networks to fulfill customer expectations. Under the new management structure, ECS says Thominet, as the new CEO, will be committed to steer this strategic expansion and will concentrate on a new business model to reinvent the way GSSAs currently work. He will also lead
the sales strategy & operations and will focus on product and service developments across offices. Thominet says: “I am honoured by the opportunity to take on the CEO role at ECS Group. I look forward to working with everyone at ECS Group in my new role and leading the company into the next growth phase while continuously
strive for innovation and improving the services to our principals.” Schmoll says Thominet’s promotion is the “logical next step in the growth trajectory of ECS Group”. ECS is reinventing itself to be at the forefront of innovation and technology adoption.
THE Airports Council International (ACI) says improvements in business confidence, economic outlook and global trade helped revive airfreight volumes at the world’s airports in the first quarter (Q1) of 2017. ACI notes overall freight volumes increased 8.3 per cent year-over-year (YOY) in Q1 of 2017 and 10.9 per cent for the month of March with this increase coinciding with an increase in export orders and inventory build-ups in key markets. At a regional level, YOY growth was led by Africa (+15.6 per cent) and Middle East (+15.5 per cent), followed by very strong results from Europe (+13.7 per cent) and Asia Pacific (+13 per cent). North America (+5.9 per cent) and Latin America-Caribbean (+4.7 per cent) also posted robust growth for the month of March 2017.
aircargoweek.com
NEWSWEEK DHL flies Norwegian seafood to Asia and America
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HL Global Forwarding is to accelerate the supply chain for the North Norwegian seafood industry by shipping live crabs and seafood from the Lakselv Airport Banak in Northern Norway to Asia and Northern America. On dedicated weekly flights, DHL will transport fresh seafood to the DHL terminal in Oslo, from where the freight is sent to South Korea and other destinations such as Japan or the US. DHL Global Forwarding Americas head of airfreight, Tim Robertson says: “Thanks to our team of experts who understand temperature control requirements, regulations, food safety and quality control guidelines, this seafood and fish is able to get to market and to consumers in the most expedient way possible.” Transporting the fresh seafood by aircraft, DHL says it allows to cut the lead-time by nearly 50 per cent. The shorter lead-time ensures living crabs and other fresh seafood arrive at their destination in prime condition and fresher. Besides living king crabs, snow crabs and shrimps DHL will also take care for the transportation of various sorts of white fish like cod, haddock and pollock, sea urchin, scallop and salmon. Norwegian Seafood Council marketing manager for salmon & trout, Bjørn-Erik Stabell adds: “Time is of the essence when it
comes to delivering fresh seafood of the very best quality. Norway is a long country, and with a large proportion of seafood being produced in the North, this air freight route is an important contribution to efficiently reaching seafood consumers across the world.” DHL is aiming to increase the frequency of deliveries from Oslo to Asia to three flights per week. From Oslo, almost 90 per cent of the the fish is flown directly to Seoul in South Korea, while approximately ten per cent is further directed to destinations in the US, Japan and China.
Changi handles record volumes
CHANGI Airport’s cargo volumes keep rising with 4.4 per cent growth in April to 171,720 tonnes, and reached a record two million tonnes on a 12-month basis. For the 12-month period ending April 2017, volumes grew seven per cent to over two million tonnes, with growth across all flows – import, export and transhipment, with key segments including aerospace parts, perishables, pharmaceuticals and e-commerce. Changi became the first airport community in Asia Pacific to establish an end-to-end supply chain that meets International Air Transport Association Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics standards, and is a member of the Pharma.Aero organisation. VietJet launched daily Hanoi – Changi services on 27 April, with seven carriers connecting Vietnam with flights to Da Nang, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Indian mango exports to grow GMR Hyderabad International Airport (GHIAL) – the operator of Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) – has started an initiative to export mangoes to South Korea as it looks to boost perishables traffic through the Indian airport. The gateway says it is part of envisioning Indian PM Narendra Modi’s vision to increase the income of Indian farmers. It has exported an initial commercial consignment of 2.5 tonnes of Indian mangoes for the first time to South Korea through its Cargo Terminal – operated by Hyderabad Menzies Air Cargo Pvt. Ltd (HMACPL). GHIAL & HMACPL Teams has worked with the farming community at the Vizianagaram facility for developing a packhouse, creating markets, commissioning this project with approvals from the Government and exporting Suvarnarekha variety of mangoes to South Korea. RGIA becomes the first airport in India to facilitate export of mangoes to South Korea directly from a farm-based infrastructure. Mangoes being a seasonal fruit of high demand, export volume to South Korea is expected to grow up to 10 tonnes per day for the rest of the season. RGIA & HMACPL teams have developed infrastructure at its cargo terminal, to facilitate exports to potential markets such as South Korea.
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NEWS WEEK Report finds widespread wildlife trafficking Black rhino returned to wilds of Rwanda
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ildlife traffickers are exploiting air transport to smuggle protected and endangered animal products on commercial services and rely on hub airports to move goods, a report has found. ‘Flying Under the Radar: Wildlife Trafficking in the Air Transport Sector’ C4ADS, as part of the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership revealed widespread exploitation of carriers by traffickers. The report focuses on ivory, rhino horn, live reptile, and live bird seizures from January 2009 to August 2016. It found these four categories represent 66 per cent of trafficked wildlife products in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Wildlife Seizure Database. And according to the C4ADS’ Air Seizure Database, 114 countries had at least one instance of wildlife trafficking in the air transport sector between January 2009 and August 2016. China had the most trafficking movements followed by Thailand and the United Arab Emirates. Airfreight made up 17 per cent of transport methods used for ivory, rhino horn, reptile, and bird seizures in the C4ADS database. Unknown was 49 per cent, luggage 30 per cent and passenger and clothing items four per cent.
The report found ivory, rhino horn, reptile, and bird traffickers “heavily rely” on large hub airports, and often exploit the same vulnerabilities within air transport while an airport’s exposure to trafficking of illicit goods can be determined by assessing the airport’s size, flight routes, screening procedures, and infrastructure. Large international hubs with high passenger and cargo volumes are “particularly vulnerable” and “present traffickers with both plentiful flight options and a low risk of interdiction”, since screening for illicit goods is often focused on the point of arrival, rather than in transit. The report found of these high-risk airports, those being expanded are most vulnerable while traffickers pay attention to new flight routes, believing staff will be less aware of the trafficking risk than on established routes. The specific roles airports play are largely dependent on their geographic location. For example, most African airports are origin points for illicit ivory shipments, but airports in the Greater Horn of Africa are generally transit points. Middle Eastern airports serve as common transit points for ivory moving from East or Southern Africa to Asia, while European airports are often used to move ivory from West Africa to Asia. Southeast and East Asian airports are predominantly destinations. The report concludes wildlife trafficking is a “global problem” taking advantage of enforcement loopholes, lack of awareness, limited public and private sector coordination, capacity gaps, and lagging technology and procedures. Wildlife trafficking ranks only behind drugs, human, and arms trafficking by value and is worth around $20 billion a year.
THE critically endangered black rhino has returned to the wilds of Rwanda with the help of Intradco Global and Etihad Cargo. On behalf of African Parks, a conservation non-profit that manages national parks and protected areas on behalf of governments across the continent, Intradco chartered two Etihad Boeing 777 Freighters to transport the 19 black rhinos from Johannesburg to the Rwandan capital, Kigali. After landing at Kigali International Airport, the rhinos were transferred to trucks to continue the final leg of their journey by road. 10 rhinos travelled on the first flight, and nine on the second, along with the three vets and two attendants who accompanied them for the journey from Johannesburg to Akagera. The rhinos, which can weigh up to 2,500kg, were transported in special pallets which also contained their feed for the journey. The project to return the rhinos took place over the first two weeks of May, and represents an historical moment for the country after the species disappeared in 2007 following decades of widespread poaching. Intradco’s specialists spent more than a
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year planning the journey with Etihad Cargo who operated the flights and worked closely with African Parks and the Akegara team to ensure permits and clearances were in place including valid CITES documentation (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) – a requirement when transporting listed species. Intradco project manager, Tom Lamb says: “It is a brilliant achievement to return the extremely rare eastern black rhino to Rwanda after a 10-year absence. There are only 1,000 left globally so moving two per cent of the world’s population was a big responsibility and challenge, and an incredible project to be a part of.” Last year, Etihad Cargo was one of the first airlines fo sign the Declaration of the United for Wildlife International Taskforce on the Transportation of Illegal Wildlife Products, known as the Buckingham Palace Declaration. Senior vice president, David Kerr says: “As a key mode of transport for transporting this caught wildlife across borders, it is the responsibility of the aviation industry to take action to prevent this.”
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NEWSWEEK
Transformation of Delta Cargo taking shape
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elta Cargo is transforming its business and is focusing on operational reliability and customer service. Speaking at air cargo europe in Munich last month, managing director for cargo revenue management, marketing and alliance, Kristin Colvile (below) says it is “all go” as it evolves cargo processes and operations. “We have been going through somewhat of a transformation, which is really focused on our two key priorities. One is operational reliability. It is a statement, which you hear from many airlines, but we are putting our money where our
mouth is,” she explains. Technology is key. Delta was the first carrier to install RFID readers on its network for passenger bags, and is now piloting that technology in air cargo. Colvile says: “We are investing heavily in technology and in RFIDs. If you think about the experience on the passenger side of the business when you are travelling with your bag, which is all RFID-enabled and you get a notification and don’t have to do anything and it tells you when your bag is coming off and which carousel it is at - we are bringing that exact same functionality to cargo so customers will know exactly where their freight is at any point in time. “We are testing it now in a couple of markets. It is something we will begin rolling out in the rest of 2017 and into 2018. For us, that is transformational in terms of operational reliability.” Delta is also developing a new cargo control
centre to boost operations, which Colvile says will be state-of-the-art and similar to what it has at its operations customer centre, enabling it to track shipments anywhere and at any time. As for customer service, she explains: “It is really about looking at all our infrastructure, processes and our people and are we truly filtering it through to the customer experience. We are going all out to transform the customer experience and interaction customers have with Delta. We just went 24/7 in our customer contact centre so customers can now contact us at any point and know we have their backs.” The customer is at the heart of everything that Delta is doing and bringing technology into play as much as possible in the future is key, making it easier for customers to do business in a similar vein to how Amazon works. Colvile explains: “We are going to have our website launched in the summer and that will bring some of that functionality people are more familiar with. We are also going to have an app. It will be much easier to book freight with Delta and much easier to interact with Delta.”
Specialist products
Investing in specialist products is another focus. Earlier this year, the carrier launched DASH Critical & Medical in the US domestic market – the first fully GPS-enabled same-day product offered by a US freight carrier. The service provides real-time tracking and monitoring and customers can ship items up until 45 minutes prior to scheduled flight departure. The premium service is for time-sensitive, small packages such as medical commodities, legal documents, essential machinery parts and aircraft on the ground (AOG) components. Colvile says: “DASH Critical & Medical has gone extremely well. We have customers asking to us to expand so we are expanding into new a market every two weeks, based on our customers needs. We don’t have a preference where we expand and it is all about what customers are telling us where they need this service. “It is faster than getting it their yourself and you cannot fly it any faster even if you were to pick it up and travel as a passenger yourself. It has great operational performance. “We want to expand it internationally and are
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testing at the moment and have pilots running. This is somewhat unique in the industry, which we are excited about.” Pharmaceuticals is another key area and Delta is in the process of gaining IATA CEIV Pharma certification at its major hubs and main headquarters. “We have done all the training and are very close and hope to have that certification in place this summer,” Colvile says. She adds: “We are working closely with our partners. AFKLMP have CEIV in Paris and Amsterdam and some airports in Asia have it. We are excited about having the network opportunities where we can fly pharma end-to-end on standardised lanes - that is a big push for us.”
Infrastructure upgrades
Colvile says Delta is making infrastructure upgrades and is investing heavily with projects in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and Salt Lake City. “All our major hubs are going through, or will be going through improvements over the next few years which will include cargo. “The other area, which you can call infrastructure alongside those developments in warehouses and airports - is how we can bring technology into the picture?,” Colvile says. Colvie says Delta is also aiming to use technology to reduce trucking dwell times, and improve warehouse experiences and in other processes. “We think there is a huge amount of opportunity and that goes back to learning from the passenger side of the business,” she explains. There are challenges, but what does Colvile feel they are for Delta? “The challenges I believe we face is how do we de-commoditise ourselves because in an environment where there is more capacity than demand even with demand improving – how do we differentiate ourselves?” she says. “That is why we are hell-bent on this customer service and operational reliability focus. We believe if we get it right our customers will celebrate that and want to give their freight to us as they know they get value. It is not just going to be about price – it is going to be about value. “That is the journey we went on the passenger side and the journey we think we believe we can go on air cargo – it is really about differentiating yourself,” Colvile adds.
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SOUTH AMERICA LATAM cargo revenue falls 8.1%
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ATAM Airlines cargo revenue has fallen 8.1 per cent in the first quarter to $253.7 million with stronger imports to Brazil partly offsetting weaker exports. Exports were hit by lower production in the salmon industry and certain products such as fruit from Chile due to strong volumes in 2016, and “meteorological issues” affected flowers from Colombia. North America and Europe to Brazil imports improved as a result of the appreciation of the Brazilian Real and improved market conditions. The airline says revenue tonne kilometres were down 7.3 per cent to 810 million and tons transported by 9.1 per cent. Capacity in available tonne kilometres declined 10.2 per cent to 1.5 billion while load factors were up 1.6 percentage points to 52.9 per cent. Freighter capacity was reduced by 23.5 per cent.
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Airports perform well, airlines struggle
For LATAM Airlines Group, total revenue increased 6.4 per cent to $2.4 billion but net income was down 35.9 per cent to $65.5 million due to lower foreign exchange gains. LATAM Airlines Group chief executive officer, Enrique Cueto says: “We are very excited about 2017 as we are in the middle of transforming LATAM and improving the value proposition for our clients with the renewal of the domestic flight model. “While we still have a lot of work to do, we are off to a solid start and remain focused on improving margins, cash flow generation and on deleveraging the balance sheet.” LATAM will expand its belly network throughout 2017 with Lima – Tucuman flights in September, connecting Santiago with the Argentinian cities of San Juan, Neuquén and Tucuman in October, and it plans direct flights to Melbourne, Australia.
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AIRPORTS across the Latin America-Caribbean region grew 4.7 per cent in March but airlines across Latin America continue to struggle, according to figures from associations. Airports Council International (ACI) says airport freight volumes were up 4.7 per cent year-on-year (YOY) in March and 2.2 per cent year-to-date (YTD). Domestic freight grew 4.2 per cent in March and 1.7 per cent while international volumes were up 4.9 per cent YOY and 2.4 per cent YTD. On a rolling 12-month basis, total freight was up 1.9 per cent, with international freight increasing 1.8 per cent and domestic by 1.7 per cent. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says airlines have continued to struggle, with freight tonne kilometres (FTK) declining 4.2 per cent in March, the only region to fall. Capacity in available tonne kilometres was reduced by 1.9 per cent during March. The association says freight volumes have contracted for 26 out of the last 28 months, and recovery in seasonally adjusted volumes stalled with demand in March reaching its lowest level since October 2010. FTKs are now 18 per cent lower than their 2014 peak though IATA says the region’s airlines have adjusted capacity, limiting the impact on load factors. March load factors were still at their lowest since 2002 and the only region to decline during the month, down 0.8 per cent to 31.9 per cent.
SOUTH AMERICA
Premium focus at Viracopos as volumes recover after 2016
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fter a challenging year in 2016 due to economic problems in Brazil, cargo at Viracopos International Airport has picked up in the first four months, director of operations Marcelo Mota tells Air Cargo Week. Viracopos near Sao Paulo (pictured) handled 124,561 tonnes of imported cargo in 2015, which fell 17 per cent in 2016 to 103,390 tonnes. Exports were better, growing 11.6 per cent from 52,486 tonnes in 2015 to 58,569 tonnes in 2016, while the first four months of 2017 have seen growth of 19.2 per cent to 18,860 tonnes compared to the same period of 2016. Imports increased 18.5 per cent in the first four months of 2017 compared to 2016, handling 37,230 tonnes, but each month is still some way below 2015. In April 2015, Viracopos handled 10,867 tonnes of imports, which fell 24.1 per cent to 8,243 tonnes in 2016 before recovering 11.1 per cent to 9,162 tonnes in 2017. Mota says despite a significant drop in cargo volumes, revenue increased 1.5 per cent due to management measures and investing in infrastructure. He says: “One of our main actions, for example, was to focus on different cargo profiles, especially the higher-priced pharmaceuticals and high-tech products that are lighter but more valuable.”
Investment in infrastructure
ABV, the concessionaire of Viracopos has been investing in in frastructure, security and information systems to improve efficiency. The Viracopos Cargo Terminal (TECA) is one of busiest in Brazil, Mota says: “In addition to having a large and modern structure to handle, store and release cargo, it is responsible for handling nearly 40 per cent of all imported air cargo in the country.” Viracopos began constructing a high security terminal in partnership with Brinks with September 2015, and came into operation in April 2016. Mota says the 1,560m2 area inside TECA houses the most complete special security structure for high value cargo among Latin American airports. He says: “The site has all physical and technological infrastructure used in similar operations at the most important airports around the world, including a special area with controlled temperature, which can hold pharmaceutical products and other cargo that requires this type of environment.” TECA operations have also relied on the Warehouse Management System (WMS), improving productivity, management and availability of information to customers. The R$9 million investment included implementing the WMS, the new Customs Registry System and the Billing System, all fully integrated. Mota says: “The system can identify the best storage location for each type of cargo volume arriving at the terminal, optimising spaces and maximising operational efficiency.”
“The new WMS provides better security and speed in the storage of cargo, in addition to better compliance with current legislation, because it has a more efficient customs registry. All of this improves the level of services rendered to our customers and regulatory agencies.”
IATA CEIV in progress
Viracopos also signed a deal with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to start Center of Excellence for Independent Validators in Pharmaceutical Logistics certification (CEIV) in early 2016. Mota says: “Viracopos is one of the only two airports in Latin America that is in the process of obtaining the CEIV Pharma certification. The certification process is expected to be concluded within six months.” ABV, the concessionaire of Viracopos has also created an incentive program aimed at strengthening the airport’s position as a
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major cargo hub, and is negotiating proposals for new routes and additional cargo frequencies, which are still being finalised. Airlines can receive up to 100 per cent exemption of landing fees as long as they meet criteria including operating cargo aircraft on new international frequencies and/or have Viracopos as an origin or destination. Mota says: “Our program offers attractive, transparent and non-discriminatory incentives to all airlines that wishes to fly or expand its operations from Viracopos.” Mota believes the improvement of the Brazilian economy and resumption of industrial activity is a challenge, and there is a need for increased investments in transport and logistics infrastructure, and greater integration between different modes of transport. He also says there is great potential and many opportunities for growth, explaining: “To achieve this, there must be greater integration between countries. Viracopos plays an important role in this market, since it is the largest cargo airport in Brazil.”
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WORLD ROUTES
Melbourne to HK added by Virgin to its route network
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irgin Atlantic Cargo is to increase capacity to Australia with Melbourne – Hong Kong flights by its partner Virgin Australia from 5 July. The five Airbus A330-200 flights a week will offer 14 tonnes of capacity, and Virgin Atlantic Cargo will be responsible for selling all of the capacity on these flights, extending its long-haul international sales contract with Virgin Australia, which also includes operations connecting Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne with Los Angeles.
Virgin Atlantic Cargo managing director, John Lloyd (pictured) explains: “This is great news for our customers because it really opens up the Australia-Hong Kong-Australia market in addition to the services we already offer with Virgin Australia that connect Australia and the US west coast. “Hong Kong is an important and growing market for companies in Australia, with over 21.5m kilos of air cargo moving from Melbourne to Hong Kong alone in 2016.” He says Virgin is confident it will win a large share of business and sees potential to grow volumes into Melbourne from Hong Kong and London. Virgin Australia launched five Boeing 777300ER flights a week from Melbourne to Los Angeles, and Virgin Australia Cargo chief execu-
tive, Merren McArthur says: “We expect a good level of growth this year with the addition of our new routes from Melbourne to Los Angeles and Hong Kong. “We have great confidence in Virgin Atlantic’s ability to maximise the potential of our growing
long haul international network.” In addition to general cargo, perishables are expected to make up a sizeable percentage of cargo on the Melbourne to HK sector, while e-commerce will boost volumes from Hong Kong.
Pharma network expansion for Qatar
QATAR Airways Cargo has added Colombo in Sri Lanka and Dublin in Ireland to its extensive Pharma Network – which brings the network’s total to 73 destinations. The Colombo route was added to its Pharma Network on 15 May, while Dublin’s pharma operation begins on 12 June, when Qatar Airways commences its Boeing 787 Dreamliner flights to the same city. The carrier says Ireland has become one of the leading global hubs for the pharma industry, with nine of the top ten largest pharma companies operating in the country. Sri Lanka, while also an importer of pharma and healthcare products, expects future earnings from pharma exports to surpass tea export revenue, following the launch of a pharma manufacturing project at the country’s Export Processing Zone last
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year. Qatar Airways’ chief officer for cargo, Ulrich Ogiermann (pictured below left) says: “We are experiencing consistent growth each year in the airfreight of pharmaceuticals and healthcare products globally. “The expansion of our pharma network to these destinations gives us the opportunity to support expanding pharma businesses in Sri Lanka, the Republic of Ireland and globally. Customers stand to benefit from a seamless cool chain as well as uncompromised service standards. “Qatar Airways Cargo customers in the Republic of Ireland will also greatly benefit in terms of time and cost savings, as they will no longer have to truck their freight from the Republic of Ireland to United Kingdom.” The addition of Colombo and Dublin to the pharma network will enable Qatar Airways Cargo to offer its specialist pharma transport solution, ‘QR Pharma’ to an expanding global customer base. Qatar’s fleet includes eight Airbus 330Fs, 12 Boeing 777Fs and one B747F.
WORLD ROUTES
Spain services added by UPS to its European offering
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PS will increase its air cargo capacity on 5 June from Vitoria and Seville in Spain to its European air hub in Cologne, Germany. The new Boeing 737-400F flights will allow UPS to offer later pick-up times for export shipments in northern and southern Spain and have a payload of 20 tonnes. This new service will complement UPS’s existing flights to Cologne Airport from Barcelona, Madrid, and Valencia. From UPS’s hub in Cologne, 41 flights connect businesses in Spain with their customers in Europe and the rest of the world. As a result of the new flight, UPS customers in the north and south of Spain will now benefit from later pick-up times, and 85 per cent of the Spanish population can benefit from having their packages exported on the same day they are picked up. The regions are home to multinationals and small businesses operating in the industrial manufacturing, automotive, and food and beverage sectors. UPS country manager for Spain and Portugal, Wilfredo Ramos says: “By extending pick-up times, we are continuing to improve
LHR expansion for Jet
ways to meet the needs of multinationals, as well as small and medium sized enterprises, looking to expand into international markets. “Spain is an important market for UPS and we grew our export volume by more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2017 com-
pared to the prior year period.” UPS began offering its service in Spain in 1990 through the acquisition of Cualladó S.A. UPS currently employs more than 1,200 people in Spain and operates 24 facilities.
JET Airways is to add a third daily flight between Mumbai International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport using a Boeing 777-300ER. The Indian carrier says the new service will boost cargo capacity between the UK and India by almost 33 per cent, allowing the airline to capitalise on the growing round-the-year demand being witnessed between the UK and India, on the back of fast expanding relationships in the areas of trade, commerce, tourism, culture, and education. The airline says the third daily service will expand cargo capacity and promote greater access from Heathrow to destinations in the SAARC and ASEAN region, for commodities such as perishables, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, garments & fabrics, packaged food, and specialised medical equipment and supplies. The third daily Heathrow service will also provide onward connectivity to 21 destinations in India including growing cargo gateways such as Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi, and Hyderabad and international cargo hubs such as Bangkok, Colombo, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Singapore.
Belly routes keep on coming CARRIERS continue to grow their bellyhold route networks and add cargo capacity. Singapore Airlines (SIA) has added a second Scandinavian route as it will operate five times a week from Singapore Changi Airport, to Stockholm, via Moscow. This will complement SIA’s existing flights to Copenhagen in Denmark, boosting connectivity between Southeast Asia and Northern Europe. The new route is being served with the latest-generation aircraft, the Airbus A350-900. Meanwhile, SriLankan Airlines is to establish its presence in Australia with daily non-stop services to Melbourne commencing 29 October this year. The airline will be operating an Airbus 330-200 aircraft on the route. And Turkish Airlines is to launch services from Bodrum, Antalya and Trabzon and the Middle East, beginning from June 2017. It will start services between Kuwait, Riyadh, Dammam, Al Qassim, Baghdad, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Amman and some domestic destinations of Turkey. US carrier United Airlines has resumed non-stop flights between Athens and its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport. The Boeing 767-300 service will run daily until 5 October.
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AIR PHARMA ROUND-UP
Pharma investments and focus continue for Cargolux
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argolux Airlines International is seeing strong pharma traffic on routes Europe to the Midwestern US and back, manager for products, Stavros Evangelakakis (pictured below) says. He also explains demand into Asia remains high, especially in China and it is also seeing growth in the Middle East and South America. He says despite growing competition in this segment, Cargolux is growing its pharma tonnage during the first four months of 2017 and the single-digit growth is the result of its “unwavering dedication” to customers and the flexibility and willingness
to adapt services and destinations to customer requirements. Evangelakakis adds: “It also shows that we are on the right track with our strategy. We believe in constantly developing and improving our processes, learning from the past and giving the customer what he expects from us. “We believe in transparency and honesty towards the customer as another step towards greater collaborative achievements. This would also include saying ‘no’ when we can’t realistically offer what is expected from us.” Pharma continues to be a vital sector for Cargolux. Evangelakakis says: “Cargolux has invested significant effort into the advancement and development of its CV Pharma product. We have performed an in-depth aircraft thermal analysis and developed air cargo covers with Dupont.
“While we have put a lot of emphasis on passive solutions, we have felt that we needed to step up our game and also offer active solutions. “We have invested a lot of effort into our service and can offer temperature-controlled RFS that connect to any airport; we have special processes for temperature-controlled cargo on the ground and in the air, at origin and destination and offer complete transparency on the temperature range during the transport. “These premium services come with a price, of course, but they are accepted and appreciated by our customers who demand the fastest and most reliable solutions.” Cargolux continues to develop its pharma capabilities and Evangelakakis says it has begun to introduce GDP principles and processes to additional stations and look at its track and trace system as well as future digitalisation of processes “that customers expect”. Last month, Cargolux penned a partnership with Emirates SkyCargo that will see capacity
utilised and routes added between Dubai and Luxembourg and set to boost pharma traffic. And Evangelakakis says Cargolux Italia remains a “pillar” of the business as is the main carrier of pharma shipments in and out of Italy, as well as countries like Switzerland. He notes pharma will also be one of the products it offers in its new venture Cargolux China as it has a lot of demand into China, while pharma exports from China are slowly rising. Evangelakakis is sure pharma growth is here to stay: “We believe this segment will continue to grow and Cargolux has the ability and the will to grow with it. At the same time, we focus on the business and customers we already serve and invest in added value for them with constant personal contact and tailor-made solutions.”
Pharma supply chain software launched UNISYS Corporation has launched PharmaTrack – new software which it says combines security, advanced data analytics and compliance technology in a single platform. The IT provider says it provides life sciences and healthcare companies “enhanced
visibility and oversight of the entire global pharmaceutical supply chain” and help combat theft and counterfeit drugs. Unisys says according to the World Health Organization counterfeit drugs make up more than 10 per cent of the drug market.
Italian pharma on the agenda in Rome
KEY pharmaceutical issues will be under the microscope when the second edition of Temperatuz Pharma Logistics Symposium Italy takes place in Rome from 21-22 June. More than 200 delegates are expected from across the supply chain including from pharma producers, airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and others who will attend presentations, workshops, roundtables and network. The aim of the event is to develop direct and strong communication lines between the
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various pharma cool chain stakeholders from the production to the supplying material producers to all the pharma logistic players. Temperatuz will aim to give stakeholders the chance to “touch with their hands” how the airport approach to the pharma world has changed in Italy. IATA CEIV Pharma certified cargo handler BCUBE air cargo has been a pioneer in pharma at airports in Italy and will be co-sharing and sponsoring the event. BCUBE explains it wants to see strong communication event, a technical focus and a mutual exchange between all the parties involved in the centre of Italy, exactly where the top pharma market is located. In 2016, the Italian pharma industry grew strongly and is an essential part of the Italian economy. Exports saw a 7.3 per cent growth compared to 2015 and the inbound market keeps growing as well.
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